HIPPOLYTUS
A monologue from the
play by Euripides
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from The Plays of Euripides in English, vol. ii. Trans.
Shelley Dean Milman. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1922. |
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- NURSE: O queen, at first, an instantaneous shock,
- I, from the history of thy woes, received:
- Now am I sensible my fears were groundless.
- But frequently the second thoughts of man
- Are more discreet; for there is nothing strange
- Nought, in thy sufferings, foreign to the course
- Of nature: thee the goddess in her rage
- Invades. Thou lov'st. And why should this surprise?
- Many as well as thee have done the same.
- Art thou resolved to cast thy life away
- Because thou lov'st? How wretched were the state
- Of those who love, and shall hereafter love,
- If death must thence ensue! For though too strong
- To be withstood, when she with all her might
- Assails us, Venus gently visits those
- Who yield; but if she light on one who soars
- With proud and overweening views too high,
- As thou mayst well conceive, to utter scorn
- Such she exposes; through the boundless tracts
- Of air she glides, and reigns 'midst ocean's waves:
- All things from her their origin derive,
- 'Tis she that in each breast the genial seeds
- Of potent love infuses, and from love
- Descends each tribe that fills the peopled earth.
- Thy who with ancient writings have conversed,
- And ever dwell among the tuneful Nine,
- Know how to Theban Semele's embrace
- Flew amorous Jove, how bright Aurora stole
- Young Cephalus, and placed among the gods
- The object of her passion: yet in Heaven
- They still reside, where unabashed they meet
- Their kindred gods; those gods, because they feel
- A sympathetic wound, I deem, indulge
- Their weakness: and wilt thou refuse to bear
- Like imperfections? Nature on these terms
- Decreed thou from thy father shouldst receive
- Thy being: look for other gods, or yield
- Submission to these laws. Hast thou observed,
- How many husbands, men who are endued
- With a superior wisdom, when they see
- The nuptial bed by secret lust defiled,
- Appear as though they saw not: and how oft
- The fathers, if their sons transgress, connive
- At their unhappy passion? To conceal
- Unseemly actions is no trifling part
- Of human wisdom; nor should man his life
- Form with too great precision; for the roof,
- The covering from the storm, the builder leaves
- Less fair, less highly finished. If immersed
- In evils great as those thou hast described,
- How canst thou hope to 'scape? But if thy virtues,
- Since thou art only human, far exceed
- Thy failings, it is well with thee: desist,
- O my loved daughter, from thy evil purpose,
- And cease to utter these reproachful words:
- For there is nought but contumelious pride
- In thy endeavour to be yet more perfect
- Than the immortal gods: endure thy passion
- With fortitude, since 'twas the will divine
- That thou shouldst love: but give a prosperous turn,
- If possible, to thy disease. For songs
- There are with magic virtues fraught, and words
- Which soothe the soul: hence an effectual cure
- May be obtained: in such discovery man
- Would long in vain be busied, to our sex
- If no spontaneous stratagem occur.
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MONOLOGUES BY EURIPIDES |
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